Tomato Surprise
by Liz Williams
Summary: Weekly Unbound Challenge 1023 words


Title: Tomato Surprise  
  
Author: Liz Williams  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own them even a little bit. Have massive student loans and a huge cactus and Venus fly trap collection, but that's pretty much it if any one wants to sue.  
  
Summary: This is from the Unbound Weekly Challenge. First and last sentences are given, has to be around 1,000 words.  
  
A/N: Thanks ever so to A for the quick Beta. Any mistakes are mine alone, for she is a Goddess.  
  
Grissom approached the tomato warily. Catherine had informed him that if he did not remove his forgotten meals from the community fridge by the end of shift, she would pack them up and put the leftovers in his office somewhere that would take him months to find. In fact, she had threatened to move them each day so it would take all the longer. The tomato was the last thing he had to deal with, and the most distasteful.  
  
He heard a throaty chuckle from behind him.  
  
"I don't even have to turn around." Smiling softly to himself, Grissom ignored the ache in his knees and stayed crouched in front of the fridge. "Sara Sidle."  
  
"It's me." Since the night he had picked her up at the station, they had slowly and carefully been trying to rebuild their relationship. He had made her take two weeks off, not that she had protested all that much. She had gone back to her parents' place, and the time away had done her some good. Some of the weight she had lost over the last year had come back, the deep shadows under her eyes had lessened, as had the general aura of sadness and disillusionment.  
  
"So, you're finally cleaning your experiments out of the community fridge?" Sara came to stand directly behind him.  
  
"They're not experiments. They were lunch at some point."  
  
"Well, you can donate them to science now," she teased. It was good to hear that tone in her voice again on a more regular basis. While she had been away they hadn't spoken, but the emails had flown back and forth on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. While they had mainly contained obscure factoids and saying nothing too deep or personal, they had gone a long way to getting them back into the friendly, playful relationship they had shared in the past.  
  
The silence stretched between them, and the ache in Grissom's knees was too much to take much longer. He stood, leaving the tomato where it was.  
  
"How's your case going?" He held in a groan as he stood. Old. Very old.  
  
"Done. Paperwork is on your desk waiting for your signature. It was hell on my knees crawling around on that marble floor." In the past, this would be where he froze up or pushed her away when the common ground hit too close to home. For some reason now he was all right with her echoing his thoughts.  
  
"Wanna help me out?" He gave her his best smile. He really, really didn't want to have to touch that tomato.  
  
"Grissom, I've seen you approach decomps with relish, yet the tomato is squigging you out?" Sara had done nothing to hide her amusement from him.  
  
"That's work, this is just gross." This time she did laugh. Together, they stood in front of the fridge trying to determine how to best remove the tomato without actually touching it.  
  
"Wait here." Sara turned and ran out of the room. Grissom waited for a moment, then closed the fridge and sat down at the table, opening up the paper to the crossword.  
  
Several minutes later, Sara returned with a biohazard container in hand and a pair of beaker tongs. She placed both objects on the table in front of him.  
  
"There you go. Now you don't have to touch it."  
  
"You wouldn't want to do it for me, would you?" He gave her his best pleading smile.  
  
"No way. You made the mess, you clean it up. I gave you a way to clean it up, and I'll give you pointers as you work." The smile had left her and she had become more serious as she spoke.  
  
"Thank you." Grissom looked her in the eye, letting her know that he had got the message and he was trying. Sara smiled and ducked her head.  
  
Setting his crossword aside and gathering up the tomato disposal tools, Grissom went to the fridge to deal with the revolting item. Sara opened the fridge for him, and cocked her head to the side as if trying to figure out their best option.  
  
"Okay, the way I think this is going to have to work is that you're going to have to very gently slide the tomato to the end of the shelf and drop it into the container. If you'll, grab me a paper towel to wipe behind in case it's too rotten to hold together."  
  
Grissom grabbed a couple of paper towels from the counter and two pairs of gloves from his pants pocket. Properly armed and gloved up, Sara knelt in front of the fridge, holding the paper towel in place. Grissom stood directly behind her, considering the best way to go about this. If he stayed put he would have to place his arms on either side of her to get a good angle to move the tomato and hold the biohazard container.  
  
This was not going to work.  
  
"Sara, I think you're going to have to hold the container too." She turned her head and looked up at him. Grissom froze. This was much too close to too many of the fantasies he didn't admit to having.  
  
A flush made its way up Grissom's neck and cheeks. All it would take is the right gesture, tone of voice and the this that had been smoldering between them since the day they met would ignite.  
  
"Hey, Gil," Catherine's voice caused them both to start jerking the fridge. The tower of precariously-balanced miscellaneous Tupperware, paper towels and an open bag of chips toppled.  
  
Catherine and Sara burst into laughter when Grissom had chips in his hair and beard. Grissom shot a death glare, and was gratified to see Catherine turn tail and run.  
  
Sara stood up and turned to face Grissom.  
  
"Maybe we should try this again later." Still laughing, Sara stepped forward to close the fridge door, causing Grissom to take a step back. The movement made some of the chips fall from Grissom's hair to his beard. She chuckled as he picked debris from his beard. 


End file.
